September 11th is a day of remembrance in Chile. Their September 11th involved planes and bombs, nationally recognized buildings, lives lost for ideologies, terror and confusion, and a turning point in the country's history, both internally and internationally. Their September 11th occurred 28 years before the attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City, but is still a date that resonates with every Chilean.
On September 11, 1973 a military coup d'état overthrew the democratically elected, but socialist, President Salvador Allende. The heads of Chilean Air Force, Army, and Navy worked together to take the port city of Valparaíso and cut lines of communication with Santiago. President Allende remained in La Moneda, the presidential palace, where he learned the full extent of the resistance. He refused to resign and hand control of the country to the military, and made a final farewell speech broadcast on the radio, which he ended by saying "These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason". La Moneda was bombed (marks of which are still visible on its North face) and the President died inside, officially labeled a "suicide".
The man who led the coup and subsequently ruled the military dictatorship, Army General Augusto Pinochet, remained in power until 1990. During this time some 1,500 political opponents were murdered or "disappeared" and tens of thousands were imprisoned and tortured- 40,000 in the first month alone. There are few families in Chile who were not affected by the brutal rule. Former President Michelle Bachelet was imprisoned and tortured in a detention center along with her mother in 1974. Her father was tortured and died in a detention center the year before.
President Allende had not had a smooth presidency. There were serious economic problems, a divided constituency, and foreign relations were challenging during Cold War times when socialism was viewed as enemy #1. In documents that were declassified on September 11, 1998, 25 years after the coup, it came to light the US President Nixon had ordered his CIA director, Richard Helmes, to foster a coup and force an economic crisis that would make Chileans want to overthrow their government. The United States also financially backed the military junta during their first few years of rule... the same years 40,000 political opponents were detained, tortured, or murdered.
This September 11th, my thoughts will not only be with the families who lost loved ones in the attacks on the World Trade Centers, or in the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. My thoughts will also be with the Chilean families who suffered through 17 years of a brutal military dictatorship that my country, a country founded on the beliefs of equality and justice for all, helped to establish because a man came into power who believed in equality and justice for all- but he didn't believe in free market economics.
It is impossible to know what would have happened in Chile if the US did not have any interests in overthrowing Allende. But it is known that the US would rather support a military junta, at least for a few years, than a democratically elected socialist president. And as an American, I can't say that is something I am proud of.
